The Southern Star Sport Podcast

We’re chatting West Cork hoops on this week’s podcast and to steer us in the right direction we’ll be joined by Pat Curran, teacher and basketball coach at Coláiste Pobail Bheanntraí . The Bantry secondary school has enjoyed a brilliant season on the court, contesting two All-Ireland finals, and Pat will tell us all about it.  Kieran and Jack also dissect Cork's loss to Meath in the opening r...

The Allianz National Football League gets underway this weekend with John Cleary’s Cork side getting their campaign up and running on Sunday when they welcome Colm O’Rourke’s Meath to Pairc Ui Chaoimh at 3pm. After picking up some early season silverware by winning the McGrath Cup with the defeat of Limerick last Friday night, Cleary will be hoping the rebels can carry their promising pre-season f...

We’re back for 2023 and on this week’s podcast we’re looking ahead to the Cork ladies inter-county season which gets underway with the start of the Lidl National Football League this weekend. One player who won't be involved is Kinsale's Orla Finn. Finn, a two-time All Star and six-time All Ireland winner, breaks the news of her retirement in an exclusive interview with Kieran on today’s Star Spor...

On this week’s podcast we’re looking back on the year that was in West Cork Sport and counting down the top 10 moments from yet another banner 12 months for the region. From rowing domination to the meteoric rise of the Castlehaven ladies football team, 2022 will go down in the West Cork sporting history books as a year to remember If you can’t make it to the shops this week to pick up a copy of T...

On this week’s podcast we’re chatting to Eamonn Harte & Brendan Walsh about their former team-mate, Padraigh Griffin, who passed away tragically in October. Padraigh was a Clonakilty legend and Eamonn and Brendan have been speaking to Kieran about what he was like on and off the pitch and about just what made him such a force with Clon. In part two we’ll bring you all the latest news including...

On this week’s podcast we’ll be joined by Ibane Gaels manager Paul Holland who steered the club, an amalgamation of Argideen Rangers and Barryroe, to Carbery U21A glory this season with victory over Newcestown. We’re also going to hear from Una Twohig who has been chatting to Ger McCarthy. Una is the captain of the Naomh Abán ladies footballers who take on Salthill-Knocknacarra in the All Ireland...

On this week’s podcast we’re joined by West Cork’s latest All Star!  Dual player and St Colum’s club ace Libby Coppinger was named  on the 2022 PwC Camogie All-Stars team on Saturday night following a stellar season in the Rebels’ defence. Cork were awarded four All-Stars from their ten nominations and we caught up with Libby on her return from Kenya where she was taking part in the Plant The Plan...

On this week’s podcast we’re joined by nine-time All-Ireland winning Cork camogie legend Gemma O’Connor to chat about her new autobiography ‘Why not a Warrior’. O’Connor, who also won ten All Stars during her playing days, has been chatting to Ger McCarthy about her remarkable career. Jack and Kieran also bring you the latest West Cork sporting headlines including more McElhinney magic and John Mu...

On this week’s podcast we’ll be joined by four-time All Ireland winning Cork goalkeeper Martina O’Brien who just last week announced her retirement from inter-county football. The Ballinascarthy woman will continue to lineout at club level for Clonakilty but she’s brought the curtain down on a remarkable decade long stint with Cork which also included six division one league titles. We’re also goi...

On this week’s podcast we’re going to hear from Cork and Enniskeane camogie star Orla Cronin. Orla is swapping her hurl for a shovel this month as she embarks on her latest challenge – a charity mission to Africa. The Enniskeane woman is one of 50 GAA players that have signed up for the ‘Plant the Planet' Games, as the Gaelic Players Association (GPA), Warriors for Humanity and Self Help Africa ha...

On this week’s podcast we’re going to hear from Beara GAA Secretary Joe Blake about whether the minor grades should be left at U17 or return to U18 and the effect decoupling could have on rural GAA clubs across the county. Joe previously served as the Cork county board’s PRO so is well versed on this subject and has some great insights into the existential threats faced by clubs on the Beara penin...

On this week’s podcast we’re going to hear from Ciarán O’Sullivan, captain of the Beara divisional side that won the 1997 county championship. Ciarán has been chatting to Ger McCarthy about that incredible year which saw Beara lift the Andy Scannell cup following a replay victory over West Cork rivals Castlehaven. The Beara '97 winning team will be honoured during halftime of Sunday’s Premier Seni...

This week’s podcast is a county final special as we look ahead to the clash between Bantry Blues and Kanturk in the Bon Secours Premier Intermediate final. The West Cork side head to Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Sunday at 4pm in search of their first adult football title since 1998 and on today’s show we’ll be joined by Bantry Blue’s player Kevin Harrington. If you can’t make it to the shops this week to p...

Since February 2019 when we launched the Star Sport Podcast it has been our mission to bring the most in-depth and comprehensive coverage of the West Cork sporting universe to you, the great people of the West Cork sporting community. We’ve interviewed Olympic gold medallists, Irish soccer internationals, horse racing legends and everything in between. And somehow we’ve managed to keep it going fo...

On this week’s podcast we’re reflecting on a famous win for the Castlehaven ladies’ footballers who continued their rise up the Cork footballing ranks by clinching the county intermediate title after an epic 25-metre free shoot-out win against Glanmire on Saturday. We’ll be joined by captain Siobhan Courtney who, along with Rachel Whelton, kicked the winning frees as Castlehaven won the shoot-out...

On this week’s podcast we’re building up to Saturday’s Bon Secours Senior A Football Championship semi-final between St Michael’s and O’Donovan Rossa and we’re joined by Skibbereen’s David Shannon. We're also looking ahead to the other crunch county semi-finals involving West Cork teams this weekend including Bantry Blues’ meeting with Iveleary in Dunmanway and part three of the Castlehaven-St Fin...

On this week’s podcast we’re building up to Sunday’s Carbery Junior A Football Championship final between Argideen Rangers and St James and we’ll hear from both camps. Matthew Hurley has been catching up with St James’ player/manager Alan O’Shea and Argideen selector Denis O’Leary. Later we’re be joined by four-time British Rally Champion Keith Cronin ahead of this weekend’s Yorkshire Rally. Bally...

The knockout stages of the Cork county football championships get underway this weekend and we’re looking ahead to all of the big games involving West Cork sides on this week’s podcast.  Kieran takes us through each game including the huge Premier Senior quarter final ties featuring Castlehaven, Carbery Rangers & Carbery. We also hear from Keith White of Dohenys’ ahead of their mouth-watering...

The final round of the group stages of the Cork football championships took place last week and with so many West Cork teams in action we have plenty to discuss on this week’s podcast. Matthew Hurley gives us his top five takeaways from the weekend that was with several sides progressing to the knockout stages and several others facing down the barrel of some fairly daunting looking relegation bat...

The final round of the group stages of the Cork football championships takes place this weekend and with several of the West Cork contingent well-placed and in good form we’re looking ahead on this week’s podcast. We’re joined by by Thomas O’Rourke of a rejuvenated Carbery Rangers ahead of their top of the table clash with the Barr’s in Ballinascarthy on Sunday with both sides seeking to book a di...

The Carbery footballers continued their brilliant run in this year’s Premier Senior Football Championship on Sunday evening at Páirc Uí Rinn, beating Duhallow to claim the Divisions & Colleges crown. The victory also secured a county quarter final slot for Tim Buckley’s men and on this week’s podcast we’re chatting to Kilmacabea and Carbery defender Ruairi Hourihane about their one point win....

They’ve only gone and done it again - the rowers reared on the river Ilen have once again put Skibbereen and West Cork on the front and back pages with their exploits in Munich at the European Championships. On this week’s show we’ll be chatting to Fintan McCarthy - one half of the new European Champions after he and Paul O’Donovan came out on top to claim yet another major championship gold medal...

On this week’s show we’re looking ahead to a busy weekend in the football county championships with ex-Cork footballer Micheál Haulie O’Sullivan. Haulie joins us to look ahead to Castlehaven v Nemo Rangers, Clonakilty v Newcestown, Carbery Rangers v Éire Óg, Ilen Rovers v O’Donovan Rossa and Dohenys v Bandon. We’re also looking back on Cork’s heartbreaking loss to Kilkenny in the All-Ireland Camog...

On this week’s show we’re looking ahead to Sunday's All-Ireland Camogie final between Cork and Kilkenny. We’re joined on the show by Cork manager Matthew Twomey who has led this Cork side back to the final in his first season in charge. Before we hear from Matthew we’re reflecting on some of the weekend’s big results and storylines as the county and Carbery hurling championships got underway. To h...

On this week’s show we’re looking back on the opening weekend of the county and Carbery football championships and what a weekend it was. We’ll be joined by John O’Rourke of Carbery Rangers who got their championship campaign off to a flyer with a 2-10 to 1-9 win over Carrigaline. But before we hear from John we’re going to reflect on some of the weekend’s other big results and storylines. And to...